


The Definition of Insanity

by Gerec



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Exes still in love, Extended Families, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:08:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28797384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gerec/pseuds/Gerec
Summary: Alex and Lorna are getting married, and they've invited the entire extended family to witness the joyous event. As their respective parents, Charles and Erik are forced to set aside their fraught history, and just focus on the bride and groom - though it would be a lot easier if they didn't have to navigate a slew of ex-wives/husbands, meddlesome children and nosy, if well meaning friends too.Also, there's the little matter of the two still being in love after all these years...
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 19
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I thought a family chart might help here, since the point of this fic is Charles and Erik as the messy center of a large extended clan:
> 
> Hank, Alex and Sean are Charles' foster kids that he and Erik adopted when they got married. Lorna is Erik's biological daughter with Susannah Dane, who he didn't meet until she was a teenager (Susannah never told Erik about Lorna). So Alex and Lorna didn't grow up together as siblings, even though Erik is father to them both :D
> 
> Also, David is Charles and Gabrielle's, born after Erik and Charles' divorce and Charles marries Gabby.
> 
> Pietro and Wanda are here too, and Erik had them with Magda BEFORE he met Charles. He also married her again after his split with Charles, though they are now divorced (again).
> 
> Laura calls Charles 'Dad', from the years he was married to Logan. 
> 
> Raven is still Raven :D

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles has second thoughts about the night before.

**Saturday**

_The definition of insanity,_ Charles thinks _, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results._

The sentiment floats to his mind unbidden, the moment he opens his eyes and registers the warm, familiar weight against his back. He takes a deep breath and then exhales; once, twice, three times as he maps the angles of his wheelchair parked by the nightstand. A quick glance at the clock tells him it’s still early in the morning – not even eight o’clock – and he very seriously considers skipping the scheduled pre-wedding brunch for a couple more hours of needed sleep.

It would be a lot easier of course, if he didn’t currently have a guest in his hotel bed.

The thought is appealing if rather fleeting, to hide away from the expected chaos of the day ahead. Not only is it Alex’s wedding day – who, like Hank and Sean are his kids as much as David is, regardless of biology – it’s also the first time in years that the entire family has managed to gather in one place. And with David headed to Oxford in the fall, the last of the children will be moving away, leaving Charles to rattle around in that big empty house all on his own.

He swallows the lump in this throat, and rolls himself carefully off to the side, swinging his legs gingerly over the edge of the bed.

Erik is still fast asleep, his limbs thrown haphazardly over the spot Charles just vacated. Years ago, he would have jolted awake the second Charles shifted, a naturally light sleeper made more sensitive post-accident, guilt as much as concern fueling his every move. Of course it’s been ages since they’ve consistently shared the same bed, and neither of them are the young men they used to be, so madly and desperately in lust and in love. Now they can scarcely stay up half the night and not feel the effects, though they’re both still in good enough shape for men in their forties.

His hip aches fiercely when he pushes onto his feet, enough that he has to brace himself against the armrest of his chair. The alcohol fueled sex is definitely the culprit, and Charles knows he’s the one to blame; Erik has always given in easily to his every demand in bed, especially when said demand is to fuck him _‘harder’_ and _‘faster’_. He’ll have to use the chair during the ceremony and for most of the day, if he wants to attempt that dance with the bride that he’s been promised.

It takes longer than he likes to make his way into the bathroom, and longer still to hop in the shower and start getting ready for the day. He sends a suggestion into Erik’s sleeping mind to ignore the noises and stay under, so he won’t wake in the middle of Charles’ morning routine. It might be the coward’s way of dealing – or not dealing – with their ill-advised tryst, but Charles is in no hurry to contemplate what it means for them _this_ time, and in no mood for Erik’s inevitable snit when he can’t give any answers.

He looks back once more at the figure on his bed, as he maneuvers the chair around the room, locating his key card and mobile on his way out the door. Erik is still sprawled across the mattress and snoring softly, content in a way he can’t be around Charles when they’re both awake. The urge to get back under the covers is almost overwhelming, every fiber of his being telling Charles to _stay_ and _just be_. But this day is about their children – about Alex and Lorna – and not about their own inability to maintain a lasting relationship, no matter how many times they’ve tried since their days at university.

Charles closes the door behind him, and hopes Raven and Hank are open to company before they all head down to brunch. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erik arrives at the hotel and bumps into Magda and the twins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is going to time jump between the day of the wedding (Saturday) and the rehearsal dinner (Friday) and switch between Charles and Erik's POV.

**Friday**

Erik thinks, even as he’s stepping out of the cab in front of the luxurious Frost International that they should have had the wedding at the house in Westchester. The grounds there are well groomed and spacious and perfect for an outdoor wedding, with the mansion large enough to comfortably host the wedding party and all of various members of the extended Lehnsherr and Xavier clan. And though Erik would never admit it out loud – and barely acknowledge it even to himself – he’s fond of the place because he still thinks of it as _home_ , even if it’s been years since he’s lived there with the boys and with Charles.

Of course none of them are boys any longer, least of all Hank who was already a teenager when Charles first brought him home as a new foster parent. Alex and Sean came later, after Erik and Charles got married, though they all settled in quickly and easily as one big happy family. Though it didn’t last, the house did remain a constant in all of their lives, a reminder of better days before everything they had together fell irrevocably apart… 

He knows Charles would have gladly hosted the wedding there, if not for the groom’s insistence at a more neutral location; one that could provide more _staff_ and more _floors_ to act as a buffer between ex-spouses and all the other complicated relationships between their myriad guests.

Stepping into the lobby, Erik spots a sign bearing Alex and Lorna’s names, and follows it to a special check-in area just for the wedding guests. It’s the kind of careful detail you can always count on from Emma Frost, so it’s just as well that she’s taken over planning for the wedding. Between her soft spot for Alex and her decades long friendship with Charles, Erik knows the wedding will be nothing short of spectacular.

“Dad! Over here!”

He’s accosted by the twins before he even makes it to the check-in table, returning the full bodied hug he gets from Wanda and the one-armed hug from a grinning, if more subdued Pietro. Magda waves as she collects their room keys from the hotel staff, and makes her way over to join them with an easy smile.

“The Father of the Bride,” she says with a teasing quirk of her lips, eyes darting to take in his appearance – dress shirt and khakis – and light travel bag slung over his shoulder. “No tux? And no date, I see.”

“The tux is getting delivered to my room, along with my suit for the rehearsal dinner.” Erik shakes his head. “Emma insisted. Said she’s in charge of dressing the entire wedding party, parents of the bride and groom included.”

“And thank goodness for that,” Wanda says, “I don’t even want to _think_ about the hideous bridesmaid dresses we’d be stuck with if she hadn’t gotten involved.”

“Wait you didn’t bring Angel?” Pietro zips through the entire lobby and back again, ostensibly to verify that Erik has indeed, come dateless to the wedding. “I was kind of hoping to dance with at least one pretty girl who wasn’t related to me.”

Erik rolls his eyes as Wanda reaches to cuff her brother on the back of the head. “Eww, gross, stop drooling over your father’s girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend—” he argues, just as Magda quips, “Well, to be fair she _is_ closer to Pietro’s age than Erik’s.”

Huffing in exasperation, he pushes past them towards the check-in, and gives his name to the nondescript young man waiting politely behind the desk. “She’s not my girlfriend, alright? She’s a junior associate at my firm and I took her out _once_ —”

“To the MRA fundraiser yes, we know.”

Frowning, Erik arches an eyebrow at his ex-wife and asks, “Who told you?”

She eyes him, smile wicked sharp, not even bothering to hide her amusement at Erik’s expense. “Oh Charles mentioned it, when we took all the boys out for their last tux fitting. He said she was ‘ _such_ a pretty, young thing’ with ‘quite the _mar_ velous mutation’.”

That…sounds remarkably like something Charles would say - a _passive aggressive_ Charles who might have been jealous but would sooner chew his own arm off than admit it out loud. Something tugs uncomfortably at Erik’s gut and throws him off kilter; something he decidedly does _not_ want to think about for the entirety of this wedding weekend. He’s more than a little grateful when the hotel clerk interrupts to give him his key, declining the man’s offer to have the valet take his bag to his room.

He follows Magda and the kids back across the lobby towards the elevators, only half listening to their chatter as they gossip about the guest list and the latest drama in their friend group. Wanda and Pietro say a quick goodbye then and head off in opposite directions, leaving Erik alone to bear the weight of Magda’s pointed scrutiny.

“So…where are they off to again?”

Magda smiles and thankfully, doesn’t call him out for not paying attention to their conversation for the last five minutes. “Wanda is meeting Lorna and the girls at the spa, and Pietro is off to find the boys in Alex’s room.”

“Oh, that’s good. Guess we’ll see them all at the Rehearsal Dinner.”

“Yes the whole family will be there,” Magda says, cocking her head to the side as Erik studiously avoids her gaze. “Charles too of course. I imagine he’ll be in a great mood given the occasion, and have too much to drink….it’s probably the best chance you have to get him alone and talk to him.”

Erik shakes his head. “We don’t talk, Mags. We fuck or we fight, and we don’t need any of that bullshit happening. This weekend isn't _about_ us. It’s about Alex and Lorna and nothing else.”

Magda scoffs, waving her hand imperiously in his face. “That’s an excuse if I ever heard one. I have it on good authority that you two know perfectly well how to get along, and hold a damn conversation if you just _try._ ” Her tone softens a little then, and she reaches to squeeze his hand. “He’s been divorced for over a year. _You’re_ single, and still in love with him. Don’t you think it’s about time?”

It would be so much easier, Erik thinks, if he could just pretend that he’s really moved on; that he’s not still head over heels in love with his ex after all these years. He’s cursed his hopeless devotion to Charles more than once – hell, more than a hundred times even – and really did try to be happy and present in his other relationships. His marriage to Magda came the closest, and he still adores her so very much, and maybe if he'd never met Charles they might have had a real chance to make it work…

He sighs, and gives her hand a quick squeeze in return. “Fuck, I really need a drink. Care to join me?”

She laughs. “Sure, Erik. Lead the way.”

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this tidbit on tumblr last year, so if it seems familiar that might be the reason. More chapters to come.


End file.
